Is whistleblowing ethically justified for an engineer

Engineering Ethics Case Study

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Ethics, Technology, and Engineering

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Ethics, Technology, and Engineering

An Introduction

Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers

A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication

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This edition first published 2011 © 2011 Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers © chapter 7: Peter-Paul Verbeek; © chapter 10: Michiel Brumsen

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Poel, Ibo van de, 1966– Ethics, Technology, and Engineering : An Introduction / by Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4443-3094-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4443-3095-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Technology–Moral and ethical aspects. I. Royakkers, Lambèr M. M. II. Title. BJ59.P63 2011 174′.96–dc22 2010042204

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic formats: eBook 978-1-4443-9570-9; ePub 978-1-4443-9571-6

Set in 10/12.5pt Galliard by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Singapore

1 2011

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Acknowledgments x Introduction 1

1 The Responsibilities of Engineers 6 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 Responsibility 9 1.3 Passive Responsibility 10 1.4 Active Responsibility and the Ideals of Engineers 13

1.4.1 Technological enthusiasm 14 1.4.2 Effectiveness and efficiency 16 1.4.3 Human welfare 18

1.5 Engineers versus Managers 21 1.5.1 Separatism 21 1.5.2 Technocracy 22 1.5.3 Whistle-blowing 23

1.6 The Social Context of Technological Development 25

1.7 Chapter Summary 28 Study Questions 29 Discussion Questions 30

2 Codes of Conduct 31 2.1 Introduction 32 2.2 Codes of Conduct 33

2.2.1 Professional codes 34 2.2.2 Corporate codes 40

2.3 Possibilities and Limitations of Codes of Conduct 43 2.3.1 Codes of conduct and self-interest 44 2.3.2 Vagueness and potential contradictions 46

Contents

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vi Contents

2.3.3 Can ethics be codified? 48 2.3.4 Can codes of conduct be lived by? 50 2.3.5 Enforcement 52

2.4 Codes of Conduct in an International Context 54 2.4.1 Global codes for multinationals 54 2.4.2 Global codes for engineers 58

2.5 Chapter Summary 61 Study Questions 62 Discussion Questions 63

3 Normative Ethics 65 3.1 Introduction 67 3.2 Ethics and Morality 70 3.3 Descriptive and Normative Judgments 71 3.4 Points of Departure: Values,

Norms, and Virtues 72 3.4.1 Values 72 3.4.2 Norms 74 3.4.3 Virtues 75

3.5 Relativism and Absolutism 75 3.5.1 Normative relativism 76 3.5.2 Absolutism 76

3.6 Ethical Theories 77 3.7 Utilitarianism 78

3.7.1 Jeremy Bentham 79 3.7.2 Mill and the freedom principle 84 3.7.3 Criticism of utilitarianism 86 3.7.4 Applying utilitarianism to

the Ford Pinto case 88 3.8 Kantian Theory 89

3.8.1 Categorical imperative 90 3.8.2 Criticism of Kantian theory 93 3.8.3 Applying Kant’s theory to the Ford Pinto case 95

3.9 Virtue Ethics 95 3.9.1 Aristotle 96 3.9.2 Criticism of virtue ethics 98 3.9.3 Virtues for morally responsible engineers 99

3.10 Care Ethics 102 3.10.1 The importance of relationships 102 3.10.2 Criticism of care ethics 103 3.10.3 Care ethics in engineering 103

3.11 Applied Ethics 105 3.12 Chapter Summary 106 Study Questions 107 Discussion Questions 108

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Contents vii

4 Normative Argumentation 109 4.1 Introduction 110 4.2 Valid Arguments 113 4.3 Deductive and Non-Deductive Arguments 116 4.4 Arguments in Ethical Theories 118

4.4.1 Argumentation by analogy 118 4.4.2 Arguments in a utilitarian plea 119 4.4.3 Argumentation in Kantian reasoning 122 4.4.4 Argumentation in virtue-ethical reasoning 126

4.5 Fallacies 127 4.5.1 Some common fallacies in ethical discussions 127 4.5.2 Fallacies of risk 129

4.6 Chapter Summary 131 Study Questions 131 Discussion Questions 132

5 The Ethical Cycle 133 5.1 Introduction 134 5.2 Ill-Structured Problems 135 5.3 The Ethical Cycle 137

5.3.1 Moral problem statement 138 5.3.2 Problem analysis 142 5.3.3 Options for actions 143 5.3.4 Ethical evaluation 145 5.3.5 Reflection 146

5.4 An Example 147 5.4.1 Moral problem statement 149 5.4.2 Problem analysis 150 5.4.3 Options for actions 151 5.4.4 Ethical evaluation 151 5.4.5 Reflection 153

5.5 Collective Moral Deliberation and Social Arrangements 155 5.6 Chapter Summary 157 Study Questions 158 Discussion Questions 159

6 Ethical Questions in the Design of Technology 161 6.1 Introduction 163 6.2 Ethical Issues During the Design Process 165

6.2.1 Problem analysis and formulation 166 6.2.2 Conceptual design 168 6.2.3 Simulation 170 6.2.4 Decision 171 6.2.5 Detail design 173

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viii Contents

6.2.6 Prototype development and testing 174 6.2.7 Manufacture and construction 175

6.3 Trade-offs and Value Conflicts 177 6.3.1 Cost-benefit analysis 180 6.3.2 Multiple criteria analysis 183 6.3.3 Thresholds 185 6.3.4 Reasoning 187 6.3.5 Value Sensitive Design 188 6.3.6 A comparison of the different methods 189

6.4 Regulatory Frameworks: Normal and Radical Design 190 6.5 Chapter Summary 194 Study Questions 195 Discussion Questions 197

7 Designing Morality 198 Peter-Paul Verbeek

7.1 Introduction 199 7.2 Ethics as a Matter of Things 200 7.3 Technological Mediation 201

7.3.1 Mediation of perception 202 7.3.2 Mediation of action 204

7.4 Moralizing Technology 205 7.4.1 Criticizing the moral character of technological artifacts 206 7.4.2 Taking mediation into ethics 207

7.5 Designing Mediations 211 7.6 Chapter Summary 214 Study Questions 215 Discussion Questions 216

8 Ethical Aspects of Technical Risks 217 8.1 Introduction 219 8.2 Definitions of Central Terms 221 8.3 The Engineer’s Responsibility for Safety 223 8.4 Risk Assessment 225

8.4.1 The reliability of risk assessments 227 8.5 When are Risks Acceptable? 228

8.5.1 Informed consent 231 8.5.2 Do the advantages outweigh the risks? 232 8.5.3 The availability of alternatives 233 8.5.4 Are risks and benefits justly distributed? 234

8.6 Risk Communication 236 8.7 Dealing with Uncertainty and Ignorance 237

8.7.1 The precautionary principle 238 8.7.2 Engineering as a societal experiment 241

8.8 Chapter Summary 244 Study Questions 245 Discussion Questions 247

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Contents ix

9 The Distribution of Responsibility in Engineering 249 9.1 Introduction 250 9.2 The Problem of Many Hands 252

9.2.1 The CitiCorp building 253 9.2.2 Causes of the problem of many hands 256 9.2.3 Distributing responsibility 257

9.3 Responsibility and the Law 258 9.3.1 Liability versus regulation 259 9.3.2 Negligence versus strict liability 260 9.3.3 Corporate liability 263

9.4 Responsibility in Organizations 263 9.5 Responsibility Distributions and Technological Designs 267 9.6 Chapter Summary 272 Study Questions 273 Discussion Questions 274

10 Sustainability, Ethics, and Technology 277 Michiel Brumsen

10.1 Introduction 278 10.2 Environmental Ethics? 280 10.3 Environmental Problems 281 10.4 Sustainable Development 283

10.4.1 The Brundtland definition 283 10.4.2 Moral justification 284 10.4.3 Operationalization 286

10.5 Can a Sustainable Society be Realized? 289 10.6 Engineers and Sustainability 291

10.6.1 Points of attention during the design process 292 10.6.2 Life cycle analysis 293

10.7 Chapter Summary 298 Study Questions 299 Discussion Questions 300

Appendix I: Engineering Qualifications and Organizations in a Number of Countries 301

Appendix II: NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers 307 Appendix III: FEANI Position Paper on Code of Conduct:

Ethics and Conduct of Professional Engineers 313 Appendix IV: Shell Code of Conduct 315 Appendix V: DSM Values and Whistle Blowing Policy 320 Glossary 329 References 340 Index of Cases 351 Index 352

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This book is based on our Dutch text book Royakkers, L., van de Poel, I. and Pieters, A. (eds) (2004). Ethiek & techniek. Morele overwegingen in de ingenieurspraktijk, HBuitgevers, Baarn. Most of the chapters have been thoroughly revised. Some chap- ters from the Dutch text book are not included and this book contains some new chapters.

Section 1.4 contains excerpts from Van de Poel, Ibo. 2007. De vermeende neutraliteit van techniek. De professionele idealen van ingenieurs, in Werkzame idealen. Ethische reflecties op professionaliteit (eds J. Kole and D. de Ruyter), Van Gorcum, Assen, pp. 11–23. [translated from Dutch].

Section 3.11 and large parts of Chapter 5 are drawn from Van de Poel, I., and Royakkers, L. (2007). The ethical cycle. Journal of Business Ethics, 71 (1), 1–13.

Section 6.2.4. contains excerpts from Devon, R. and Van de Poel, I. (2004). Design ethics: The social ethics paradigm. International Journal of Engineering Education, 20 (3), 461–469.

Section 6.3 contains excerpts from Van de Poel, I. (2009). Values in engineering design, in Handbook of the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 9: Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences (ed. A. Meijers), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 973–1006.

Chapter 7, which is written by Peter-Paul Verbeek is based on Verbeek, P.P. (2006a). Materializing morality – Design ethics and technological mediation. Science, Technology and Human Values, 31 (3), 361–380; Verbeek, P.P. (2006b), The morality of things – A postphenomenological inquiry, in Postphenomenology: A Critical Companion to Ihde (ed. E. Selinger), State University of New York Press, New York, pp. 117–130; and Verbeek, P.P. (2008), Morality in design: Design ethics and the morality of technologi- cal artifacts, in Philosophy And Design: From Engineering to Architecture (eds P.E. Vermaas, P. Kroes, A. Light, and S.A. Moore), Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 91–103.

Acknowledgments

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Acknowledgments xi

Section 8.7 contains excerpts from Van de Poel, I. (2009). The introduction of nan- otechnology as a societal experiment, in Technoscience in Progress. Managing the Uncertainty of Nanotechnology (eds S. Arnaldi, A. Lorenzet and F. Russo), IOS Press, Amsterdam, pp. 129–142.

Section 9.2 contains excerpts from van de Poel, I., Fahlquist, J.N., de Lima, T., Doorn, N., Royakkers, L. and Zwart, S. Fairness and completeness in distributing responsibility: The case of engineering. Manuscript.

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Introduction

One of the main differences between science and engineering is that engineering is not just about better understanding the world but also about changing it. Many engineers believe that such change improves, or at least should improve, the world. In this sense engineering is an inherently morally motivated activity. Changing the world for the better is, however, no easy task and also not one that can be achieved on the basis of engineering knowledge alone. It also requires, among other things, ethical reflection and knowledge. This book aims at contributing to such reflection and knowledge, not just in a theoretical sense but also more practically.

This book takes an innovative approach to engineering ethics in several respects. It provides a rather unique approach to ethical decision-making: the ethical cycle. This approach is illustrated by an abundance of cases studies and examples, not only from the US but also from Europe and the rest of the world. The book is also innovative in paying more attention than most traditional introductions in engineering ethics to such topics as ethics in engineering design, the organizational context of engineering, the distribution of responsibility, sustainability, and new technologies such as nano- technology.

There is an increasing attention to ethics in the engineering curricula. Engineers are supposed not only to carry out their work competently and skillfully but also to be aware of the broader ethical and social implications of engineering and to be able to reflect on these. According to the Engineering Criteria 2000 of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the US, engineering graduates must have “an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility” and “the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context” (Herkert 1999).

This book provides an undergraduate introduction to ethics in engineering and technology. It helps students to acquire the competences mentioned in the ABET

Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction, First Edition. Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers. © 2011 Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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2 Introduction

criteria or comparable criteria formulated in other countries. More specifically, this book helps students to acquire the following moral competencies:

● Moral sensibility: the ability to recognize social and ethical issues in engineering; ● Moral analysis skills: the ability to analyze moral problems in terms of facts, values,

stakeholders and their interests; ● Moral creativity: the ability to think out different options for action in the light of

(conflicting) moral values and the relevant facts; ● Moral judgment skills: the ability to give a moral judgment on the basis of different

ethical theories or frameworks including professional ethics and common sense morality;

● Moral decision-making skills: the ability to reflect on different ethical theories and frameworks and to make a decision based on that reflection; and

● Moral argumentation skills: the ability to morally justify one’s actions and to dis- cuss and evaluate them together with other engineers and non-engineers.

With respect to these competencies, our focus is on the concrete moral problems that students will encounter in their future professional practice. With the help of concrete cases we show how the decision to develop a technology, as well as the process of design and production, is inherently moral. The attention of students is drawn towards the specific moral choices that engineers face. In relation to these concrete choices students will encounter different reasons for and against certain actions, and they will discover that these reasons can be discussed. In this way, students become aware of the moral dimensions of technology and acquire the argumentative capacities that are needed in moral debates.

In addition to an emphasis on cases – which is common to most other introductory text books in engineering ethics as well – we would like to mention three further characteristics of the approach to engineering ethics we have chosen in this text book.

First, we take a broad approach to ethical issues in engineering and technology and the engineer’s responsibility for these. Some of the issues we discuss in this book extend beyond the issues traditionally dealt with in engineering ethics like safety, hon- esty, and conflicts of interest. We also include, for example, ethical issues in engineer- ing design (Chapters 6 and 7) and sustainability (Chapter 10). We also pay attention to such technologies as the atomic bomb and nanotechnology. While we address such “macro-ethical” issues (Herkert 2001) in engineering and technology, our approach to these issues may be characterized as inside-out, that is to say: we start with ethical issues that emerge in the practice of engineers and we show how they arise or are entangled with broader issues.

A second characteristic of our approach is that we pay attention to the broader con- texts in which individual engineers do their work, such as the project team, the com- pany, the engineering profession and, ultimately, society. We have devoted a chapter to the issues this raises with respect to organizing responsibility in engineering (Chapter 9). Where appropriate we also pay attention to other actors and stakeholders in these broader contexts. Again our approach is mainly inside-out, starting from concrete examples and the day-to-day work of engineers. It is sometimes thought that paying

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Introduction 3

attention to such broader contexts diminishes the responsibility of engineers, because it shows that engineers lack the control needed to be responsible.1 Although there is some truth in this, we argue that the broader contexts also change the content of the responsibility of engineers and in some respects increase their responsibility. Engineers, for example, need to take into account the view points, values and interests of relevant stakeholders (Chapter 1). This also implies including such stakeholders, and their viewpoints, in relevant discussion and decision making, for example in design (Chapters 5 and 6). Engineers also need to inform managers, politicians, and the public not only of technological risks but also of uncertainties and potential ignorance (Chapter 8).

A third characteristic of our approach is our attention to ethical theories. We con- sider these theories important because they introduce a richness of moral perspectives, which forces students to look beyond what seems obvious or beyond debate. Although we consider it important that students get some feeling for the diversity and back- grounds of ethical views and theories, our approach is very much practice-oriented. The main didactical tool here is what we call the “ethical cycle” (Van de Poel and Royakkers 2007). This is an approach for dealing with ethical problems that system- atically encourages students to consider a diversity of ethical points of view and helps them to come to a reasoned and justified judgment on ethical issues that they can discuss with others. The ethical cycle is explained in Chapter 5, but Chapters 2, 3, and 4 introduce important elements of it.

The development of the ethical cycle was largely inspired by the ten years of experi- ences we both have in teaching engineering ethics to large groups of students in the Netherlands, and the didactical problems we and our colleagues encountered in doing so (Van der Burg and Van de Poel 2005; Van de Poel, Zandvoort, and Brumsen 2001). We noticed that students often work in an unstructured way when they ana- lyze moral cases, and they tend to jump to conclusions. Relevant facts or moral con- siderations were overlooked, or the argumentation was lacking. Ethical theories were often used in an instrumental way by applying them to cases in an unreflective way. Some students considered a judgment about a moral case as an opinion about which no (rational) discussion is possible.

The ethical cycle is intended as a didactical tool to deal with these problems. It provides students a guide for dealing with ethical issues that is systematic without assuming an instrumental notion of ethics. After all, what is sometimes called applied ethics is not a straightforward application of general ethical theories or principles to practical problem in an area. Rather, it is a working back and forth between a concrete moral problem, intuitions about this problem, more general moral principles, and a diversity of ethical theories and view points. This is perhaps best captured in John Rawls’ notion of wide reflective equilibrium (Rawls 1971). (For a more detailed dis- cussion, the reader is referred to Chapter 5.)

The ethical cycle provides a tool that does justice to this complexity of ethical judg- ment but at the same time is practical so that students do not get overwhelmed by the complexity and diversity of ethical theories. By applying the ethical cycle students will acquire the moral competencies that are needed for dealing with ethical issues in engi- neering and technology (see Figure I.1).

In conjunction with the ethical cycle, we, together with some colleagues have developed a software tool for analyzing ethical issues in engineering and

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4 Introduction

technology: AGORA (Van der Burg and Van de Poel 2005). The approach on which AGORA is based is basically the same as the ethical cycle. AGORA would therefore be a useful software platform to use in combination with this text book. The pro- gram contains a number of standard exercises that correspond to chapters in this book. In addition, teachers can develop their own exercises. For more information about AGORA, the reader is referred to the website www.ethicsandtechnology.com

This book consists of two parts. Part I introduces the ethical cycle. After an intro- ductory chapter on the responsibility of engineers, it introduces the main elements of the ethical cycle: professional and corporate codes of conduct (Chapter 2), ethical theories (Chapter 3) and argumentation schemes that are used in ethical reasoning (Chapter 4). Chapter 5 then introduces the ethical cycle and offers an extensive illus- tration of the application of the cycle to an ethical issue in engineering.

Part II focuses on more specific ethical issues in engineering and technology. Chapters 6 and 7 deal with ethical issues in engineering design. Chapter 6 focuses on ethical issues that may arise during the various phases of the design process and pays special attention to how engineers are confronted with and can deal with conflicting values in design. Chapter 7 takes a broader look at how technologies influence the perceptions and actions of users and considers how such considerations can be taken into account in design. Chapter 8 deals with technological risks, and questions about how to assess such risks, the moral acceptability of risks, risk communication, and dealing with uncertainty and ignorance. Chapter 9 discusses issues of responsibility that arise due to the social organization of engineering. It discusses in particular the problem of many hands, the difficulty of pinpointing who is responsible if a large number of people are involved in an activity, and it discusses ways of dealing with this problem in engineering. Chapter 10 discusses sustainability, both in more general terms and how it affects the work of engineers and can be taken into account in, for example, the design process.

To a large extent, Parts I and II can be used independently from each other. Teachers who have only limited course hours available can, for example, choose to teach a basic introduction and only use the first five chapters. Conversely, students who have earlier followed some basic introduction to engineering ethics can be offered a course that uses some or all of the chapters from Part II. Although the chapters in Part II are

Moral argumentation skills

Moral sensibility

Case

Moral analysis

skills

Moral creativity

Moral judgment

skills

Moral acceptable

action

Moral decision- making skills

Moral problem

statement

Problem analysis

Options for action

Ethical evaluation

Reflection

Figure I.1 Ethical issues in engineering and technology.

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Introduction 5

consistent with the ethical cycle introduced in Part I, they contain hardly any explicit references to it and most of the necessary background would also be covered by any other basic course in engineering ethics. In fact the chapters in Part II can also largely be used independent of each other, so that they could be used for smaller teaching modules.

Teachers, who want to offer their students an introduction to engineering ethics without discussing the various ethical theories and the ethical cycle, could choose to use the first two chapters and a selection of the chapters from Part II that deal with more specific issues. Any set-up that aims at introducing the ethical cycle should, we feel, at least include Chapters 2, 3 and 5. Chapter 4 is more optional because it pro- vides moral argumentation schemes which will improve the student’s ability to use the ethical cycle but are not strictly necessary.

Each of the chapters starts with an illustrative case study that introduces some of the main issues that are covered in the chapter. Each chapter introduction also indicates the learning objectives so that students know what they should know and be able to do after reading the chapter. Each chapter also contains key terms and a summary that provide a further guide for getting to the core of the subject matter. Study questions provide further help in rehearsing the main points and in applying the main notions to concrete examples. AGORA exercises (see above) may be a further helpful tool to teach students how to apply what they have learned to more complex cases.

A book like this is impossible without the help of a lot of people. First of all we like to thank everybody who contributed to the composition of the Dutch textbook Ethiek en Techniek. Morele overwegingen in de Ingenieurspraktijk that formed the basis for this book. In particular we would like to thank Angèle Pieters, our co-editor of the Dutch textbook and Stella de Jager of HB Uitgevers. We also like to thank Peter-Paul Verbeek and Michiel Brumsen for contributing a chapter to this book. We thank Steven Ralston and Diane Butterman for translating parts of our Dutch texts. Jessica Nihlén Fahlquist, Tiago de Lima, Sjoerd Zwart, and Neelke Doorn were so kind to allow us to use a part of a common manuscript in chapter 9 of this book. We would also like to thank the people of Wiley-Blackwell for their comments and support, in particular Nick Bellorini, Ian Lague, Louise Butler, Tiffany Mok, Dave Nash, and Mervyn Thomas. Finally we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the people who anonymously filled in a questionnaire about the scope of the book for their comments and suggestions.

Ibo van de Poel is grateful to NIAS, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, for providing him with the opportunity, as a Fellow-in-Residence, to finish this book.

Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers

Note

1 Michael Davis, for example has expressed the concern that what he calls a sociological approach to the wider contexts that engineers face may in effect free engineers from any responsibility (see Davis 2006).

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1

The Responsibilities of Engineers

Having read this chapter and completed its associated questions, readers should be able to:

● Describe passive responsibility, and distinguish it from active responsibility; ● Describe the four conditions of blameworthiness and apply these to concrete cases; ● Describe the professional ideals: technological enthusiasm, effectiveness and effi-

ciency, and human welfare; ● Debate the role of the professional ideals of engineering for professional responsi-

bility; ● Show an awareness that professional responsibility can sometimes conflict with the

responsibility as employee and how to deal with this; ● Discuss the impact of social context of technological development for the respon-

sibility of engineers.

Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction, First Edition. Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers. © 2011 Ibo van de Poel and Lambèr Royakkers. Published 2011 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Contents

1.1 Introduction 7

1.2 Responsibility 9

1.3 Passive Responsibility 10

1.4 Active Responsibility and the Ideals of Engineers 13

1.4.1 Technological enthusiasm 14

1.4.2 Effectiveness and efficiency 16

1.4.3 Human welfare 18

1.5 Engineers versus Managers 21

1.5.1 Separatism 21 1.5.2 Technocracy 22 1.5.3 Whistle-blowing 23

1.6 The Social Context of Technological Development 25

1.7 Chapter Summary 28

Study Questions 29

Discussion Questions 30

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The Responsibilities of Engineers 7

1.1 Introduction

Case Challenger The 25th launching of the space shut- tle was to be something special. It was the first time that a civilian, the teacher Christa McAuliffe, or as President Ronald Reagan put it: “one of America’s finest” would go into space. There was, therefore, more media attention than usual at cold Cape Canaveral (Florida, United States). When, on the morning of January 28, 1986, the mission controllers’ countdown began it was almost four degrees Celsius below freezing point (or about 25 degrees Fahrenheit). After 73 seconds the Challenger space shuttle exploded 11 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean. All seven astro- nauts were killed. At the time it was the biggest disaster ever in the history of American space travel.

After the accident an investigation committee was set up to establish the exact cause of the explosion. The committee concluded that the explo- sion leading to the loss of the 1.2 billion dollar spaceship was attributable to the failure of the rubber sealing ring (the O-ring). As the component was unable to function properly at low temperatures fuel had started to leak from the booster rocket. The fuel then caught fire, causing the Challenger to explode.

Morton Thiokol, a NASA supplier, was the company responsible for the construction of the rocket boosters designed to propel the Shuttle into space. In January 1985 Roger Boisjoly, an engineer at the Morton Thiokol company, had aired his doubts about the reliability of the O-rings. In July 1985 he had sent a confidential memo to the Morton Thiokol management board. In that memo he had expressed his concerns about the effectiveness of the O-rings at low temperatures: “I am really afraid that if we do not take immediate steps we will place both the flight and the launching pad in serious danger. The conse- quences would be catastrophic and human lives would be put at risk.” The memo instantly led to a project group being set up in order to investigate the problem. However, the project group received from the management insuffi- cient material and funding to carry out its work properly. Even after one of the project group managers had sent a memo headed “Help!” and ending with the

Figure 1.1 Challenger Space Shuttle. Photo: © Bob Pearson / AFP / Getty Images.

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8 The Responsibilities of Engineers

words: “This is a red flag!” to Morton Thiokol’s vice-chairman nothing con- crete was actually undertaken.

On the day of the fatal flight the launching was delayed five times, partly for weather-related reasons. The night preceding the launching was very cold; it froze 10 degrees Celsius (or 14 degrees Fahrenheit). NASA engineers confessed to remembering having heard that it would not be safe to launch at very low temperatures. They therefore decided to have a telephone conference on the eve of the launching between NASA and Morton Thiokol representatives, Boisjoly also participated. The Morton Thiokol Company underlined the risk of the O-rings eroding at low temperatures. They had never been tested in sub- zero conditions. The engineers recommended that if the temperature fell below 11 degrees Celsius (or 52 degrees Fahrenheit) then the launch should not go ahead. The weather forecast indicated that the temperature would not rise above freezing point on the morning of the launch. That was the main reason why Morton Thiokol initially recommended that the launch should not be allowed to go ahead.

The people at NASA claimed that the data did not provide sufficient grounds for them to declare the launching, which was extremely important to NASA, unsafe. What was rather curious was the fact that the burden of proof was placed with those who were opposed to the launching; they were requested to prove that the flight would be unsafe. The official NASA policy, though, was that it had to be proved that it would be safe to make the flight.

A brief consultation session was convened so that the data could once again be examined. While the connection was broken for five minutes the General Manager of Thiokol commented that a “management decision” had to be made. Later on several employees actually stated that shortly after the launching NASA would make a decision regarding a possible contract extension with the com- pany. It was at least the case that Boisjoly felt that people were no longer listen- ing to his arguments. For Morton Thiokol it was too much of a political and financial risk to postpone the launch. After discussing matters amongst them- selves the four managers present, the engineers excluded, put it to the vote. They were reconnected and Thiokol, ignoring the advice of Boisjoly, announced to NASA its positive recommendations concerning the launching of the Challenger. It was a decision that was immediately followed by NASA without any further questioning. As agreement had been reached, the whole problem surrounding the inadequate operating of the O-ring at low temperatures was not passed on to NASA’s higher management level. Several minutes after the launch someone of the mission control team concluded that there had: “obvi- ously been … a major malfunction.”

A Presidential Commission determined that the whole disaster was due to inadequate communication at NASA. At the same time, they argued for a change in system and ethos that would ensure transparency and encourage whistle blowing. As a consequence, the entire space program was stopped for two years so that the safety of the Shuttle could be improved. Morton Thiokol did not lose its contract with NASA but helped, instead, to work on finding a

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The Responsibilities of Engineers 9

solution to the O-ring problem. Engineers were given more of a say in matters. In the future, they will have the power to halt a flight if they had their doubts.

Source: Based on Wirtz (2007, p. 32), Vaughan (1996), and the BBC documentary Challenger: Go for Launch of Blast!Films.

In this case we see how the Challenger disaster was caused by technical error and inadequate communication. For the designers of the O-rings, the engineers at Morton Thiokol, the disaster did not have legal implications. Does that mean that the case is thus closed or do they bear some kind of responsibility? If so, what then is their responsibility? This chapter first investigates what exactly responsibility is (Section 1.2), distinguishing between passive responsibility for things that happened in the past (Section 1.3) and active responsibility for things not yet attained (Section 1.4). The final two sections discuss the position of engineers vis-à-vis managers, which was obviously important in the Challenger case, the wider context of technological devel- opment, and examine the consequences for the responsibility of engineers of this wider context.

1.2 Responsibility

Whenever something goes wrong or there is a disaster like that of the Challenger then the question who is responsible for it often quickly arises. Here responsibility means in the first place being held accountable for your actions and for the effects of your actions. The making of choices, the taking of decisions but also failing to act are all things that we regard as types of actions. Failing to save a child who is drowning is therefore also a type of action. There are different kinds of responsibility that can be distinguished. A common distinction is between active responsibility and passive responsibility. Active responsibility is responsibility before something has happened. It refers to a duty or task to care for certain state-of-affairs or persons. Passive responsi- bility is applicable after something (undesirable) has happened.